OPINIONS: Engrave a pistol for my father's 60th birthday?

Should I have my father's 60th birthday pistol engraved?

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jcalvinmarks

jcalvinmarks

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My father is turning 60, so I bought him a Ruger SR1911 Lightweight Commander. He's always talked about how much he likes the Commander-size 1911, but he's never owned one, and we both really like Ruger firearms. So I thought this was a good idea for a grand 60th birthday present.

I'm trying to decide whether to have it engraved. Something simple: "to my father, on his 60th birthday," or similar.

So my questions are: should I have it engraved at all? It would make it more meaningful as a gift, but it would make it more difficult to sell if I have miscalculated and he decides he wants to sell it later.

If I should have it engraved, where should it be engraved? On the slide? On the underside of the frame? Front strap? One of the magazines? Ruger does like to lawyer-up their guns, so there's not a lot of real estate left that isn't already spoken for.

Also, if I should have it engraved, does anyone know of a place that can do a quick turnaround on engraving in the Triangle area? I'm sure most trophy shops have a laser engraver that could handle it, but does anyone have any specific experience with one they would recommend. I'd take it to @TARHEELSTATE as I have for my SBRs and SBS, but Charlotte is a little out of the way.
 
I say engrave on slide. I already plan to get my daughter an engraved steel handgun when she's old enough (assuming they're still legal in 19 years). :rolleyes:
 
I say absolutely do it. On the slide.

I had @TARHEELSTATE engrave an AR that I 'built' for my dad a while back. He loves it!
 
As a dad, I can tell you I'd sell a kidney before such a gift. Engrave it and oil it well so his tears don't cause rust.

You're a good kid!
 
toddje said:
If my kid brought me an engraved hi point I would be over the moon happy.
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I was hoping I could find one of the Hundred Dollar Bill Hi-Points in time for his birthday, but I missed out. Someone on reddit was talking about the possibility of a run of EBT Card hydro-dipped Hi-Points, but those haven't materialized.

toddje said:
A gift from your kid isnt something eligible for resale anyway.
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NCFubar said:
ain't no way your Dad would ever sell an heirloom
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Jeppo said:
I'd sell a kidney before such a gift.
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I don't really think he'd ever sell it. But it's not hard to imagine situations where it might happen, so keeping that option more open does have some non-trivial value. But it sounds like the consensus is on engraving the slide.
 
jcalvinmarks said:
I don't really think he'd ever sell it. But it's not hard to imagine situations where it might happen, so keeping that option more open does have some non-trivial value.
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If that possibility is really gonna make you nuts, put a few bucks in an envelope each Friday. After a couple years, the envelope will contain the value of the gun. At that point, you can decide whether to give it to him or not. ;)
 
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Before you drop any money on engraving I'd inspect the thing in depth and with a magnifying glass. My SR1911 had micro cracks in the slide that required a trip back to Ruger for a new one. Would really suck to drop $$ on engraving a flawed piece.
 
Another vote for engraving the slide. Cool idea.
 
Still soliciting for suggestions as to where to take it in Raleigh. I called the trophy shop up here in Wake Forest, they don't want to touch it. Called a couple of others. One said he's not confident that his machine will even touch the stainless steel on the slide, and probably won't do too much more than take off the powder coat on the alloy frame. I'd love to be able to run it over to Scott, but a 6 hour round trip is a bit much.
 
I vote for engraving the grips. If anything ever happens to it, the grips can be saved and moved to the replacement/repaired/rebulit gun.
 
I would not engrave the handgun, but would find a presentation box or something along those lines to put it in.
 
I think a better 60th birthday gift would be a S&W model 60 with or without the engraving.

ETS: I missed the part where you already bought the gun... For a personal message like that I second having a nice set or grips engraved or getting a presentation box.
 
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Or get him a nice wooded presentation box with room for another gun later. Tell him stick around another 10 year and maybe you can have a friend for the other slot.
 
If you were to go with a custom grip (alone or even with the engraving), there was a guy that used to do the Chantilly Gun Show that did about anything you could imagine with grips and stocks. He was from eastern WV just south of the Maryland line and I think the company was West Virginia Wood Art. His stuff was not cheap, $100 was about the average, but he used good stuff.


ETA ... here's their site ... http://www.westvirginiawoodarts.com/
 
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If you decide you want it engraved you can send me a PM.

If you need more info

www.ncengravers.com

And if you have time check out my current stuff on YouTube ... search "ncengravers"

If it's on metal and you can dream it, I can make it!!

The front and rear were all done with a laser.

IMG_3691.JPG
 
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jcalvinmarks said:
My father is turning 60, so I bought him a Ruger SR1911 Lightweight Commander. He's always talked about how much he likes the Commander-size 1911, but he's never owned one, and we both really like Ruger firearms. So I thought this was a good idea for a grand 60th birthday present.

I'm trying to decide whether to have it engraved. Something simple: "to my father, on his 60th birthday," or similar.

So my questions are: should I have it engraved at all? It would make it more meaningful as a gift, but it would make it more difficult to sell if I have miscalculated and he decides he wants to sell it later.

If I should have it engraved, where should it be engraved? On the slide? On the underside of the frame? Front strap? One of the magazines? Ruger does like to lawyer-up their guns, so there's not a lot of real estate left that isn't already spoken for.

Also, if I should have it engraved, does anyone know of a place that can do a quick turnaround on engraving in the Triangle area? I'm sure most trophy shops have a laser engraver that could handle it, but does anyone have any specific experience with one they would recommend. I'd take it to @TARHEELSTATE as I have for my SBRs and SBS, but Charlotte is a little out of the way.
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If you want to engrave it for him, then engrave it.

Selling something like that probably isn't going to be much of a consideration. It's a gift...most people don't consider selling gifts if they can keep from doing so. It's more likely to be considered an heirloom, to be passed down within the family. So, when your father dies, or reaches that point in his life were he realizes he's not long for this world, it'll likely be passed on to you. And you will cherish it for the memories it invokes.

When you die, or reach that point in your own life where you realize you're near to sloughing off your own mortal coil, you'll likely pass it on to one of your own sons or daughters, who will have the memories of two prior generations associated with it.
 
@Unknownpro , your stuff looks incredible! Unfortunately, it needs to be done by Sunday, and we have a 3-day old baby, so traveling to the other side of Greensboro isn't in the cards. This whole idea came to me pretty late; he's tough to buy gifts for.

May just have to make-do with a nice card.
 
Great post !!! Just had my 60th a couple weeks ago.
I got a T shirt and a birthday cake the Grandkids had fun blowing the candles out on..
Might not have received an engraved 45, but wouldn't trade my day for anything..
 
I think you had the gun engraved it would make a very meaningful gift for your father. I often struggle to find a nice gift for my father but on occasion he opens a window to show what he would really like and you need to jump on those chances. DO IT.
 
Get him a card to give him to hold him over till the engraving is done.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
jcalvinmarks said:
@Unknownpro , your stuff looks incredible! Unfortunately, it needs to be done by Sunday, and we have a 3-day old baby, so traveling to the other side of Greensboro isn't in the cards. This whole idea came to me pretty late; he's tough to buy gifts for.

May just have to make-do with a nice card.
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Sounds like your pretty busy. Anyhow, I am available today and tomorrow if you do want to get it done.
 
toddje said:
If my kid brought me an engraved hi point I would be over the moon happy. I say engrave it. A gift from your kid isnt something eligible for resale anyway.
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A few years ago, I had been drooling over a Ruger Redhawk in .45 Long Colt. It was to the point that the gun shop owner would hand it to me as I came in the door. I always ment to buy it, I just didn't. My son had just come home from Afghanistan and had moved to Boone. He and a friend was going shooting and stopped by the shop to get ammo. He called to tell me that my gun had been sold! Damn! Oh well, I should have bought it. Anyway, we were up at our camper cleaning up and Justin came by to see his mom. I was outside cleaning up when he was leaving. He was at his Jeep and told me to come look at something. He pulled this grey Ruger box out of his backpack. He said "Happy Retirement." Some days I could kill this kid, but that day wasn't one of them! I almost cried. I don't shoot it much but it has an honored spot in my safe right next to the 1859 Remington that has been in my family since the War of Northern Aggression, and the 6mm Parlor gun that my grandfather brought home from WWII France. There's a few guns that I would never sell, the above mentioned, my first rifle, a Western Auto Glennfield, my granddad's shotgun and my first shotgun. A lot of these guns aren't worth much money, but they're worth the world to me!
 
Well, we didn't have time to get anything engraved. I wish I had come up with this idea earlier so I'd have had more time, but oh well. The idea to do new grips was a good idea, but he specifically mentioned how much he liked the original Ruger grips several times, so I'm actually glad I didn't mess with those.

But he really seemed to appreciate it. Wanted to hit the range the very next day, and sat down to clean it as soon as we got back.

dieesT5l.jpg


Thanks everyone for the suggestions!
 
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Its a nice gift, Im sure it means a lot to him.. He is never going to sell it because a thoughtful son bought it for him..
 
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